Like a bird on the wire,
  like a drunk in a midnight choir
  I have tried in my way to be free.
  Like a worm on a hook,
  like a knight from some old fashioned book
  I have saved all my ribbons for thee.
  If I, if I have been unkind,
  I hope that you can just let it go by.
  If I, if I have been untrue
  I hope you know it was never to you.
  
  Like a baby, stillborn,
  like a beast with his horn
  I have torn everyone who reached out for me.
  But I swear by this song
  and by all that I have done wrong
  I will make it all up to thee.
  I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch,
  he said to me, "You must not ask for so much."
  And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door,
  she cried to me, "Hey, why not ask for more?"
  
  Oh like a bird on the wire,
  like a drunk in a midnight choir
  I have tried in my way to be free.